An oral history of the Vietnam War in both the United States and Vietnam features first-hand accounts of how the war was experienced by soldiers, policy makers, protesters, operatives, doctors, artists, and journalists.

Includes index.

Introductions -- Commanders (Bernard Trainor -- Dang Vu Hiep) -- War heroes (Roger Donlon -- Tran Thi Gung) -- Paying the price (Ta Quang Thinh -- George Watkins -- Phan Xuan Sinh) -- Where is Vietnam? (Jo Collins -- Deirdre English) -- Beginnings (1945-64) -- History is not made with ifs (Henry Prunier -- Vo Nguyen Giap) -- Deliver us from evil (Daniel Redmond -- Rufus Phillips -- Ngo Vinh Long) -- Kick the tires and light the fires (Richard Olsen -- Malcolm Browne -- Le Lieu Browne -- Paul Hare) -- The emperor has no clothes (Paul Kattenburg -- Evelyn Colbert -- Chester Cooper -- Sergei Khrushchev) Paradise island (John Singlaub -- Luyen Nguyen) -- Escalations (1964-67) -- Trails to war (Vu Thi Vinh -- Nguyen Thi Kim Chuy -- Helen Tennant Hegelheimer) -- You want me to start World War III? (James Thomson -- Seth Tillman -- Charles Cooper (I) -- Walt Whitman Rostow) -- Central Highlands (Dennis Deal -- Ward Just -- Le Cao Dai) -- From civil rights to antiwar (Julian Bond -- General Baker, Jr.) -- The ultimate protest (Anne Morrison Welsh) -- Free-fire zone (Jim Soular) -- Triage (James Lafferty -- David M. Smith -- Sylvia Lutz Holland Chi Nguyen) -- Morale boosters (Bobbie Keith -- James Brown -- Quach Van Phong -- Nancy Smoyer -- Vu Hy Thieu -- Joe McDonald) -- Air war (Jonathan Schell -- Harlan S. Pinkerton, Jr. -- Luu Huy Chao -- Nguyen Quang Sang -- Fred Branfman) -- Prisoners of war (I) (Porter Halyburton -- Truong My Hoa -- Randy Kehler) -- Cameras, books, and guns (Philip Jones Griffiths (I) -- Larry Heinemann -- Duong Thanh Phong -- Joan Holden -- Oliver Stone -- Nguyen Duy -- Yusef Komunyakaa -- H.D.S. Greenway) -- Antiwar escalations (Todd Gitlin -- Tom Engelhardt -- Vivian Rothstein) They slept at our house (Paul Warnke) - The turning point (1968-70) -- Tet (Tran Van Tan -- Barry Zorthian -- Philip Jones Griffiths (II) -- Nguyen Qui Duc -- Bob Gabriel -- Tuan Van Ban) -- Memorial Day 1968 -- (Clark Dougan) -- From Johnson to Nixon (John Gilligan -- Peter Kuznick -- J. Shaeffer -- Samuel Huntington -- Douglas Kinnard) -- A three-square-mile piece of the United States (Tom O'Hara) -- Familes at war (John Douglas Marshall -- Huynh Phoung Dong -- Richard Houser -- Nathan Houser -- Suzie Scott -- Lam Van Lich) -- My Lai (Larry Colburn -- Michael Bernhardt) -- You look like a gook (Vicent Okamoto Wayne Smith -- Charley Trujillo) -- An acute lack of forgetfulness (Gloria Emerson -- Nguyen Ngoc Luong) -- From Cambodia to Kent State (Anthony Lake -- A.J. Langguth -- Tom Grace) -- Endings (1970-75) -- The end of the tunnel (Alexander M. Haig, Jr. -- Morton Halperin -- Judith Coburn) -- We really believed (Beverly Gologorsky -- Nguyen Hgoc Bich -- Chalmers Johnson -- Steve Sherlock) -- Watergate (Daniel Ellsberg -- Egil "Bud" Krogh) -- The world was coming to an end (Frank Maguire -- Charles Cooper (II) -- George Evans) -- Everybody thought we'd won the war (Charles Hill) -- Paris (Daniel Davidson Nguyen Thi Binh -- Nguyen Khac Huynh) -- Prisoners of war (II) (Jay Scarborough -- Tran Ngoc Chau -- John McCain -- Patty and Early Hopper, Sr. -- Gloria Coppin) -- Collapse (Frank Snepp -- Truong Tran) -- The merriment was short-lived (Le Minh Khue) -- Legacies (1975- ) -- Missing in action (Tran Van Ban -- Tom Corey) -- War-zone childhoods (Tran Luong -- Bong Macdoran -- Loung Ung) -- Silences (Toshio Whelchel -- R. Huynh -- Jayne Stancavage) -- Souvenirs (Hoang Van Thiet) -- Taps (Leroy V. Quintana -- William Westmoreland -- Thai Dao -- Tim O'Brien -- Huu Ngoc -- Wayne Karlin -- Duong Tuong).